epigraph

PRONUNCIATION:

(EP-i-graf)

MEANING:

noun:
1. An inscription on a building or statue.
2. A quotation introducing a book or a chapter.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek epi- (on, upon) + -graph (writing).

USAGE:

"A Counterfeit Silence includes an epigraph from Thornton Wilder:
'Even speech was for them a debased form of silence.'"
William Grono and Dennis Haskell; Solitary Writer Randolph Stow
Chose Silence; The Australian (Sydney); Jun 1, 2010.